`Cuba And Cocaine` Exposes Castro As Friend To The Drug Dealer

``Cuba and Cocaine`` (9 p.m. Tuesday, PBS-Ch. 11) well documents Cuba`s involvement with international drug smuggling and is, in turn, a stinging indictment of Castro.

If indeed Castro`s initial approval of and protection for smugglers began for ideological reasons-he ``knows the weak part of the United States and this is a way to make them weaker,`` says Gen. Rafael Del Pino, the most senior military officer ever to defect from Cuba-things quickly became corrupt.

``It`s like a Mafia family,`` says Juan Antonio Rodriguez, former Cuban intelligence officer. ``Fidel became a family but without harming the interests of other families.``

In a way, it`s surprising it took so long given Cuba`s ideal geographical location.

Drug Enforcement Administration surveillance starts the sordid story of drug-filled boats being escorted by Cuban coast guard ships; drug-laden planes allowed to fly over restricted air space; Cuban military personnel unloading drugs from planes and wining and dining the pilots.

``Frontline`` producers Stephanie Tepper and William Cran and reporter Ben Loeterman use interviews with former Cuban officials and convicted drug lords to put together the first full-blown investigation of the Cuban Connection.

The cast of real characters is right out of some yet-to-be-written thriller. Among them are Robert Vesco, the international crook who lives in luxury in Cuba; Reinaldo Ruiz, convicted smuggler; Jose Blandon, a former aide to Manuel Noriega; James Herring, an admitted smuggler, who says that he was often offered drugs in lieu of cash for his deliveries of high-tech goods;

Carlos Lehder, a founding member of Colombia`s Medellin cartel.

Now serving a 135-year sentence in the U.S., Lehder says, ``Without the permission of Fidel, I could never have gone into Cuba.``

Throughout the `80s, as drug-running increased, Castro denied his country`s involvement. Then, in 1988, Ruiz and some associates were arrested in the U.S. and began naming names of their Cuban contacts.

Deniability was no longer possible and, in a shameless display of loyalty, Castro convened a well-publicized tribunal trial that resulted in guilty verdicts against two of his closest friends, Tony de la Guardia and Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa, for aiding the Ruiz mob. The two men were executed by firing squad.

The state prosecutor, Juan Escalona, puts his own spin on what was little more than a sham, with De la Guardia and Ochoa as fall guys: ``We are convinced that this was part of a campaign of disinformation to discredit the Cuban revolution. . . . Previous accusations were ridiculous. They`ve also accused Fidel Castro of being the ringleader of the drug trafficking in Cuba when Fidel Castro is our leader, our director, our guide.``

But the evidence is overwhelming that narco-trafficking was sanctioned by the state and approved by Castro.

And still it goes on. Since the trial, the U.S. Coast Guard has observed continued drug drops and participation of the Cuban military.

The moral high ground that formed one of the principal planks of Castro`s revolution-the eradication of drugs, gambling and prostitution-is weakened considerably by this report. And that, as former National Security Council adviser Roger Fontaine states, ``has very serious implications for the regime and (for Castro) himself.``

`Clara`

8 p.m. Tuesday, A&E

Arthur Miller`s new play is having its world premiere not on Broadway but on cable TV. His ``Clara`` (8 p.m. Tuesday, Arts & Entertainment) is the first of the four written-for-television plays that will form the second season of the ``General Motors Playwrights Theater.``

It is a one-act exercise in do-it-yourself psychoanalysis, as a police detective (William Daniels) prods and pokes information out of the title character`s father (Darren McGavin) after Clara`s brutal murder. With each revelation, it becomes clearer that the father`s life and ethics may have inadvertently contributed to the circumstances that brought about his daughter`s death.

There are bits of lovely writing in ``Clara`` and the two stars give strong performances. But the pain of the resolution has no sting, the knowledge gained has no substance. It`s all too morally pat.

I continue to believe that second-rate Miller is better than most of what`s being written for stages today. ``Clara,`` however, is third-rate, interesting only in context of a once-great playwright`s career.

``CUBA AND COCAINE``

A ``Frontline`` presentation. Produced by Stephanie Tepper and William Cran;